Home > Jonathan DiBiaso to Dartmouth, the rest of the Everett players make its choices

Jonathan DiBiaso to Dartmouth, the rest of the Everett players make its choices

Danny Ventura Saturday, February 04, 2012

By Bruce Lerch

EVERETT — Jonathan DiBiaso will be trading in the crimson and gold football uniform of Everett High School for the Big Green of Dartmouth College.

The record-setting quarterback announced his intentions yesterday afternoon at a belated signing-day luncheon held at Everett High School. DiBiaso plans to undergo a post-graduate year at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before matriculating to Dartmouth to play for head coach Buddy Teevens.

“I just looked at it like, where I’m young in high school, I think a year of prep school would do me good maturity-wise, athletic-wise and academically-wise, going to an institution like Dartmouth College,” DiBiaso said.

DiBiaso set state records for touchdown passes in a single-season (44) and career TD passes (103). He also guided the Crimson Tide to three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, winning the Div. 1 title in 2010 and Div. 1A this past fall.

Despite interest from several schools, DiBiaso was still awake at three in the morning, wrestling with his decision. The 6-1, 197-pound signal-caller had narrowed the field down to two Ivy League schools in Dartmouth and Harvard.

He cited the fact that the Big Green had pursued him since the beginning of his recruitment, and also enjoyed several visits to the Hanover, N.H. campus among his reasons for choosing Dartmouth.

“I visited Hanover three times so far at Dartmouth College and I love the campus,” DiBiaso said. “It’s relatively new, which attracted me a lot, and it had a really good college feel to it. Downtown Hanover is a wonderful place. I could see myself living there.

“Their improvements as far as where they're going as a program, I think they are taking great strides and I think they're going to be a powerhouse in a couple of years,” he continued. “Coach Teevens and that staff, they're all great, experienced coaches. They're putting a lot of money into the football and they want to win. And that's the main thing that means everything to me. Playing for Everett my whole life, the only thing that really mattered most was winning.”

Members of the United States Air Force were also on hand to present DiBiaso with his USAF/MaxPreps National Player of the Week Award, which he earned after surpassing Brockton’s Tommy Colombo as the state’s all-time leader in TD passes on October 28.

All-Scholastic linebacker Vondell Langston also made his commitment to the University of Massachusetts official, proudly putting on a red UMass sweatshirt after making his announcement from the podium.

Langston joins fellow All-Scholastics A.J. Doyle (Catholic Memorial) and Khary Bailey-Smith (Weymouth) in new head coach Charley Molnar’s first recruiting class as the Minutemen prepare to transition to the FBS level in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

“It was tough at first because I didn’t have anything for most of the season,” Langston admitted. “UMass was one of my top schools in the beginning of the season and I thought I’d have it a lot earlier than I did. When the old staff got fired, it kind of left me in the loophole. I was like, ‘Okay, I don’t know these coaches and they don’t know me,’ so I was kind of stuck. Luckily they picked up right where the old staff left off and its been a good fit ever since.”

In all, Everett introduced nine seniors at the luncheon, which was delayed from Wednesday’s official signing day to MCAS testing at the school. Fellow Crimson Tide football stars Jaylen McRae (post-grad year at Wilbraham & Monson) and Nick Stanfield (Framingham State) also announced their future plans. Additionally, Buck McCarthy affirmed his commitment to play baseball at Stetson University in Florida.

Missing from the festivities was All-Scholastic defensive lineman Ralph Jonathas, who was visiting the University of New Haven. Jonathas is currently between the Chargers and American International College and is expected to make his decision sometime next week.

“I'm very proud of their accomplishments and I'm also proud of the fact that so many of them are going to such great schools next year,” praised Everett High Athletic Director and football coach John DiBiaso. “It says a lot about the entire school system, the fact that these boys have been accepted to such great universities. Their legacy will live on and hopefully I can use them as role models for younger kids that are coming up through the program. Everett fans will have a lot of players to follow in college.”